Everything was a lie. One betrayal followed by another. My stomach knots.
“You haven’t eaten anything,” Villiam says.
“I’m not very hungry.” I gather my bag and head to the door. “What will happen to him?”
“He’s going to be executed. Once we’ve determined how to get around his jynx-work.”
I nod. Of course. But the thought of him dying, for good this time, pains my heart more than a little bit.
“Sorina,” he says. He kisses my forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
“I love you.”
I smile weakly. “I love you, too.”
* * *
Kahina opens her door with a sorrowful expression on her face. “Oh, sweetbug. I haven’t seen you in days.”
“It was Luca,” I sob. “He murdered them.”
She opens her door wider for me to climb inside her caravan and then pulls me into a long embrace. The inside smells of freshly potted mulch and tea. After we split apart, she wraps a quilt around my shoulders, and I take off my mask and lie down on her bed.
“Do you want to talk, sweetbug?” she asks. “Or do you want to sleep?”
“Talk.” If I go to sleep, my family will reappear. I want to wait until we are inside our new tent, surrounded by Gomorrah’s guards. Even if the killer is locked away, I don’t feel safe. I might never feel safe. “You were right, you and Villiam. You told me not to trust Up-Mountainers.”
“I never thought it would come to that,” she says. “I’m hardly happy to have been right.” She runs her fingers through my hair. “Where’s your family?”
“Locked away.” I wrap the quilt tighter around myself. “Can you talk for a few minutes?” My voice sounds weak and broken through my sobs. “I just want to listen.”
“Of course, sweetbug. Did you know Villiam has begun sending me the medicine? You don’t have to burden yourself with that anymore.”
I’m surprised. She never wanted me to ask Villiam for money, even when I suggested it when she first grew ill. She said it would come from Gomorrah’s public funds, which helps everyone here. She’d rather die than inconvenience someone else. “You’re not a burden,” I say. “You’ve never been a burden.”
She shows me her arm, the one covered in veins. “Do you see this? They used to snake all the way up to my shoulder. Now they’re barely past my elbow.” She massages my scalp. “I’m getting better. It’s taken years and an awful lot of medicine and worry on everyone’s parts, but you don’t have to fret about losing me. I’m not going anywhere.”
At last, the crying stops. I try to sink deeper into her blankets. To relax. But all I can think about is Luca’s execution. How will they manage to kill someone who cannot die?
I remember that conversation with him at the apothecary in Cartona. He believes Hellfire would do the trick. But I haven’t told that to anyone, and I don’t think he has, either.
Should I have shared his theory with Villiam?
Suddenly, there’s a shout from outside, and running, and the sound of doors slamming. I instantly think back to the Menagerie, to the time the Frician officials stormed the Festival. To the night Gill died.
Kahina peeks out her window. “People are packing up their displays. We’ve barely opened.” She leans out farther. “There’s smoke ahead. Darker smoke than usual. Something is burning.” She pulls away, her expression grave. “I don’t think we’re welcome in Leonita.”
I wipe my running nose and pull my hair out of my face. Anything to distract myself from my heartache. I’m with Kahina, who isnotgoing to die of the snaking sickness. My family is inside my head, and they’renotgoing to die, either. I won’t let them. It doesn’t matter what’s happening outside.
I’m in control.
“What is going to happen to Luca?” she asks.
“They’re executing him. Probably tonight.” I roll over onto my back so that I face her ceiling, covered in hanging plants. “I don’t want to go back to my tent.”
“You don’t have to,” she says. “But I was wondering if you’d want to hear my suspicions. I was waiting until the verdict was announced, because it’s about Luca. About the Were’s Claw.”
